This issue is, for lack of a better way to put it, a clunker. It’s all filler. There is absolutely nothing special about it. It’s a transition issue. It gets us from the first issue to the third. And though there are a few funny one-liners thrown in for comic relief, the artwork is so uncannily horrific that it’s almost not worth the journey. That’s right. Patrick Zircher is no longer doing the art on the interiors of this book, which is what got me to pick up the first issue to begin with. I haven’t been a fan of Brian Buccellato’s writing over on the main The Flash book (or his Villains Month issues, as if I needed an extra dollar and three extra issues to prove my theory that he needs to move onto new characters already). And this issue’s artwork by Scott Hepburn might be one of, if not the worst interior artwork I have seen since the reboot of the DC Universe. It’s not edgy. It’s not gritty. It’s crap.

The plot, if you can call it that, is pretty simple: The Rogues have been split up and are losing their powers or have lost them completely, which we already knew from the last issue and the events in the main Forever Evil miniseries. So we spend half of the issue doing a recap of events, prolonging pointless ones, and leading to things that we know could be cool, but are almost entirely exhausted to the point where we might not even care next month. The only “new” aspect is what is on the cover. They fight Parasite. This is the only highlight in the entire book because, quite honestly, Parasite is a giant blob monster, so it doesn’t matter that he’s drawn poorly. The problem is that everyone else looks like giant lumpy blob monsters, too. And they’re not supposed to be. So the Rogues escape from the Crime Syndicate and the Secret Society just in time to enter Gotham City, whose own “rogues gallery” are in the midst of an epic turf war. This is an interesting premise, but if the artist doesn’t slow down and take his time next issue, I’ll be very disappointed for a second month in a row.

The last paragraph of each of my reviews is usually spent making predictions and spending further praise. I have none. This book was awful. Buccellato taking over Detective Comics makes me worry that I will not be re-adding the title after John Layman’s departure. At least that one will have good artwork, though. This series, unfortunately, might have been better suited as a one-shot that led into the events of Forever Evil: Arkham War. Because, let’s face it, the only reason I’m going to be picking up the rest of the series (other than my obsessive-compulsive disorder when it comes to finishing stories out) is my love for all things Batman. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m thinking this series is going to be yet another example of why people hate crossover events.